Grace Thomas – A path to marketing through Work Experience

My name is Grace Thomas, and I am a student at Heart of Worcestershire College. I take Level 3 Business and I have been looking for work experience (WEX) to complement my studies.

I have chosen to take up a two-week placement at Arcus for WEX to get an insight into what it’s really like to work in a corporate marketing department. The view of Marketing we often see is a glamourised version, so I’m hoping to gain some real-life experience to decide what area of work I might want to go into, as well as just a feel for working in general.

Work Experience offers valuable opportunities for personal and professional growth. It allows you to gain practice skills, expand your knowledge, and build a strong foundation for your future career – and helps you develop a professional network.

I have created this blog to highlight my own experience with Arcus and explain why work experience is important.

WEEK ONE

My first week kicked off with an induction with Mike Forrest, Head of Marketing and Digital, who provided an overview of all the tasks I would be doing in my two-week placement. I then met the wider Marketing Team in their weekly team meeting and discussed how I’d work with them all to complete my WEX projects.

The tasks I undertook in week one included:

• Internal Communications – Working with Simon Aston, Internal Comms Officer, I learned how to use a range of tools to produce Arcus Essentials – the business’s all-staff weekly newsletter – which I would be responsible for in week two. This included graphic design, email marketing tools, and organising interviews to build the content.

• Digital Marketing Research task – I met with Sheridan Rudge, Marketing and Communications Officer, and an account manager from Lead Forensics (a website tracking platform Arcus use) to collect data for my research task. I had to use the tool to look through businesses visiting the Arcus website from target markets and then filter the data to see who Arcus should be marketing too.

• Vlog WEX task –  I was given a task to create a vlog of my WEX. I was equipped with a gimbal to film my vlog, learning different ways to capture footage. I also got to use video and photo editing software so that I could produce, script, and edit it myself. The finished product is above!

• Stakeholder meetings – I had a chance to meet with people from across the business to learn more about Arcus. I spoke with Martyn Cox –  Bid Operations Manager, Stephanie Parker – Senior Bids Manager, and Lisa Jardim, Head of Social Value. These were very informative meetings – they explained their job roles, what they do, and how they got into that field.

WEEK TWO

In my second week with Arcus Marketing we did various tasks: working with film crews and audio specialists, learning more about B2B social media, Arcus’s approach to winning business, and training their colleagues.

• Voiceover recording – I got to experience a behind the scenes of recording a voice-over. I got to see the process behind doing so and I also captured some of this on my vlog. I spent time with Alan Wright, Chief Technology Officer, who is a board member at Arcus.
  
• Sending Arcus Essentials – On week two my Arcus Essentials internal communications went out to around 2000 colleagues. I received some positive feedback from Alan on this which made me feel good.
  
• Understanding Sales – I had a meeting with Leigh Baker, Business Development Director, and he did a run-through with me about his job role and about what my next plan in education will be after college.
  
• Drone footage filming – We set off to Stevenage to Arcus’ National Training Centre (NTC)- here I got a full tour of the NTC. I got to see the process behind drone filming and photography and get involved. I also had a chance to do some networking with people from across the business and an external agency.
  
• Creating a LinkedIn account – on our journey back my mentor helped me set up a LinkedIn account to create a way to continue with my networking skills. Connect with me HERE!
  
• Careers coaching – I had a 1-1 session with Mike Forrest where he helped me review all work from my time here as well as ending with a careers talk.

Overall experience

My overall time with Arcus has been insightful, educational, and fun and has made me excited to get started on my career in Marketing. I got a chance to be a part of a team that was hardworking, talented, and welcoming. I’m grateful to the team I worked with and those I met and hope to work with them again in the future.